Читать книгу His Pregnancy Ultimatum - HELEN BIANCHIN, Helen Bianchin - Страница 6

‘MIA!’

A slender form almost identical to her own burst forward the instant Mia emerged into Sydney’s airport arrival lounge, and within seconds she was engulfed in an enthusiastic hug.

‘Hey,’ she protested with a musing laugh. ‘It’s only been five months.’

A sisterhood of two, no parents since their untimely death a decade before, the girls had been the best of friends for as long as they could remember. Sibling rivalry didn’t exist, never had, and each was sure it never would.

Petite in height, sable-brown hair, dark brown eyes, their likeness was such they had on occasion been mistaken for twins.

Yet Alice was the elder by two years, divorced with a nine-year-old son.

Mia caught hold of her sister’s arm. ‘Let’s get out of here.’

It took a while to collect her bag from the carousel, clear the busy terminal and join the flow of traffic heading towards the city.

It was great to be home, although home was something of a misnomer, for she no longer had a home as such. During the past few years she’d lived on university campus studying for a pharmacy degree.

Mia rolled her shoulders in a bid to ease the lingering tension from too many sleep-deprived nights leading up to end-of-year exams, the lack of caffeine, and a weariness that had little to do with either one of them.

‘So, tell me,’ Alice begged. ‘What’s new?’

Hell. Where did she start? Not at all might be best, she decided, while her sister was negotiating busy inner city traffic. It would take a while to reach the northern suburb of Manly, and the kind of news she had to impart was better told seated at Alice’s dining-room table while sharing a pot of tea.

‘The exams went okay,’ Mia reiterated cautiously, aware she’d said as much via email.

‘And?’

‘It’s good to be back.’

Alice gave her a searching look as the car drew to a halt at a controlled intersection. ‘You look pale. Tired,’ she elaborated.

Mia offered a faint smile. ‘Thanks,’ she managed ruefully. ‘Just what I needed to hear.’

‘Nothing some home-cooked food and a good night’s sleep won’t cure.’ The brisk tone was accompanied by a competent smile.

Alice was the ultimate earth mother, taking pride in producing wholesome hearty meals, home-baked cookies and bread, charity bakes. She sewed, stitched, crocheted, knitted, and took pottery classes. It didn’t stop there, for she also took art, sculpted, and set oils on canvas. She served on her son’s school committee, ran as president of the parent-teacher association, and excelled in organisation of all things.

Ask Alice was an invisible bandana her sister wore with pride, for helping had become a mission in life. It made up for the five years of Alice’s marriage during which her husband conditioned her to believe she served little purpose and possessed no self-worth.

Mia took in the familiar sight beyond the windscreen. Old buildings merged with new, dull, well-worn red brick jumbled together with renovated terrace houses, newly lacquered ornamental iron railings vying with broken wood palings. An endearingly eclectic mix that marked inner-city suburbia.

Traffic, as usual, maintained a hectic pace in a never-ending river of vehicles jostling for position in a bid to catch the next set of lights and minimise road time.

City smells, combining aged buildings, fuel fumes, summer heat. Trees with spreading branches bordering a green-grassed park, and, above, a cloudless blue sky.

Mia turned her attention to her sister.

‘How’s my favourite nephew?’

‘Great. Matt is doing well in school, enjoyed a terrific soccer season, and is heavily into tennis for summer,’ Alice enthused. ‘He’s studying piano, guitar, and is a whiz at chess. He began martial arts classes this year.’

Maternal love was unconditional, and Alice believed in the ‘busy mind, active body’ theory…totally. Fortunately her son was an enthusiastic advocate who viewed each new venture as a conquerable challenge.

‘I can’t wait to spend time with him.’ They shared a mutual affection that dispensed with the generation gap, a love of sports, action movies, books. Pals, she accorded fondly, and hoped the friendship part of their relationship would never change.

‘He has plans,’ Alice warned, and Mia offered a wry smile.

‘Uh-huh. I take it para-gliding, bungee-jumping and all other dangerous activities are a definite no-no?’

Alice made a sound that was part sigh, part groan.

‘Don’t,’ she warned. ‘Even in jest.’

Traffic was heavy as they crossed the harbour bridge, and only began to ease as they cleared the inner northern suburbs.

There were coves with moored craft, a marina, and heavy greenery hugging the elevated rock-face where luxurious homes perched high sharing magnificent views of the inner harbour and city.

Sun-dappled water, stunning architecture…a place where she’d been born and spent her formative years. Excelled and survived, loved and been betrayed, only to emerge as a strong, determined young woman whose focus became unwavering in pursuit of her goal.

Except for one little blip that had the power to change her life for ever.

Alice’s home was situated in a wide tree-lined street, a solid double-brick structure with medium-size rooms her sister redecorated with considerable flair at regular intervals.

Externally it was similar to many houses in the established suburb, but indoors it held an air of homeliness that was both inviting and relaxing.

‘Coffee, tea, or something cold?’ Alice queried as she preceded Mia down the hallway.

‘Tea would be great.’ There was only one guest room, which she occupied during university vacations, and she deposited her bag, released her knapsack, then she quickly freshened up before joining her sister in the kitchen.

Aromatic tea steamed from two cups, and there was a selection of home-made cookies set out on a plate.

‘We have an hour before I need to go collect Matt from school,’ Alice declared, indicating a chair opposite. ‘So…out with it.’

She could prevaricate, brush off her sister’s intuitive questioning, or at least delay giving an answer until…when? Tonight, when Matt was asleep? Tomorrow? There was never going to be a good time.

‘I’m pregnant.’ No lead up, just the basic fact. Yet the very starkness of her announcement caused acute anxiety as to Alice’s reaction, for Mia’s stance on pre-marital sex was a shared, well-known fact.

Together, they’d laughed about it, exchanged views, pursued the ‘fors’ and ‘againsts’, whether saving oneself for the right man and marriage didn’t belong way back in the previous century! ‘What if the sex turns out to be…well, less than anticipated? How will you know if you have nothing to compare it with?’ Alice had teased.

Now, there was a tremendous sense of vulnerability along with the anxiety. Everything she’d believed in, all that she’d held dear in her emotional heart, was laid bare, and open to criticism.

It was bad enough she’d resorted to self-castigation every day…every waking hour, since that fateful night.

‘Just…I’m pregnant? That’s it?’ Alice demanded, aghast.

Mia closed her eyes, then opened them again. Dear heaven, what was the matter with her? ‘I need to fill you in,’ she managed ruefully, and caught her sister’s intent expression.

‘In spades. No detail spared. And it would help to know whether I’m to congratulate, commiserate, console, or rejoice with you.’

Her stomach executed a somersault, then went into free fall. ‘Commiserate,’ she admitted, and didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.

‘You weren’t—?’ Shock and anger meshed with a fighting spirit second to none. ‘It wasn’t—?’

‘No,’ she reassured at once, her own shock a visible entity. ‘Nothing like that.’

Alice leaned forward and covered her sister’s hand with her own. ‘So—what happened?’

The genuine concern evident in her sister’s expression almost moved her to tears, and she shook her head in self-chastisement of the emotional roller coaster she’d been riding for the past few weeks. One minute she’d be fine, the next a teary mess.

Where did she start? ‘Who,’ she corrected wryly. Oh, yes, it was definitely who.

‘I assume he’s to die for,’ Alice opined with a faintly wicked smile. ‘Considering he managed to persuade you to discard every one of your preconceived convictions about sex before marriage?’

His image came sharply into focus, haunting, taunting her with what they’d shared together. The excitement, the ecstasy…and her wantonness to experience it again, and again. A willing pupil beneath a skilled lover’s touch, she reflected.

‘Incredible,’ she said simply, aware of the warmth flooding her cheeks as she held her sister’s gaze.

‘Off the planet, huh?’ Alice’s grin was replaced with curiosity and a degree of mild reproof. ‘You didn’t tell me you were with anyone.’

Alice’s surprise was understandable, given they spoke on the phone each week and resorted to email almost every day.

‘I’m not.’

Her sister’s eyes narrowed fractionally. ‘If you don’t give me the rundown…the total rundown,’ she endorsed, ‘I’ll be forced to take dire action!’

Mia managed a faint smile. ‘The short version won’t wash?’

‘Don’t even think about it!’

There was nothing else for it but to start at the beginning…something she should have done at the onset, instead of dropping a verbal bombshell in her sister’s lap.

‘I was supposed to meet a friend at an evening function.’ A night out had seemed a good idea at the time, following weeks of intense study. It had also provided the opportunity to dress up…a marked change from wearing the usual university garb of jeans and tee shirt. ‘She didn’t show,’ Mia went on to explain. ‘When I checked my cellphone there was a text message to say she’d become suddenly ill.’ She effected a faint shrug. ‘I didn’t know anyone there, and I was about to leave when I noticed a fellow guest standing alone on the other side of the room.’

A man whose magnetic presence had made the room and everyone in it fade into insignificance.

Even from a distance he’d had an alarming effect on her equilibrium. Disturbing, disruptive, lethal. In that instant she’d instinctively known her emotional life was about to go into a tail-spin.

Yet not even she, in her naïvety, could have possibly imagined how the evening would end, or its far-reaching implications.

Nor would she have believed she could fall so quickly, so easily beneath a man’s spell.

Not one day passed when she didn’t query her sanity in mindlessly giving in to temptation…yet that was a misnomer, for she’d been fully aware of her actions, and honesty demanded acceptance she’d been a willing, eager participant.

‘You dated him?’

Oh, hell, this was where it became…difficult. ‘Not exactly.’

Alice’s expression sharpened. ‘What do you mean…not exactly?’ There was fleeting comprehension, followed by full-blown shock. ‘You slept with him that same night?’

There hadn’t been much sleep, only sheer physical and emotional exhaustion in the early pre-dawn hours.

‘Dear God, Mia.’ Her sister’s voice reduced to a stunned whisper. ‘What were you thinking?’

She closed her eyes against the anguish of her foolishness. ‘That’s just it. I didn’t think.’

Her sister’s eyes narrowed. ‘I take it the sex was consensual?’

‘Oh, hell, yes.’ The man, the night, the sex filled her mind in vivid detail. His powerful image, his touch, everything about him was indelibly imprinted in her mind.

Alice discarded her tea and sank back in her chair. ‘You had a wild night with someone you’d never met before?’ She shook her head in silent disbelief. ‘My sensible sister who’s so selective with her body she steadfastly refused to sleep with the man who wanted to put a ring on her finger?’

How could she explain all it had taken was one look, and she’d felt her bones melt? Recognition on some intense instinctive level that went beyond anything she’d ever known before.

‘Someone must have spiked your drink.’ It was the only logical explanation Alice could summon, and Mia shook her head.

‘I wasn’t drinking.’ There was nothing, no one to blame but herself.

‘Have you told him you’re pregnant?’

How could she, when she didn’t even know his name, let alone where he lived, worked?

Her silence was sufficient answer, and Alice’s features softened with distress. ‘He’s married?’

The thought almost destroyed her. If only for the reason it pegged him as a cheater, and made a bad situation worse. ‘I have no idea.’

‘Yet you had unprotected sex?’ Her sister’s face paled at the implications. ‘Are you insane?’

‘One of the condoms broke.’

Alice’s gaze widened. ‘One?’ She waited a beat. ‘Oh, my.’

Oh, my didn’t come close. The sex had been mind-blowing, passion at its zenith…for her. Had it been the same for him? He hadn’t said, but then neither had she. In truth, she hadn’t been capable of uttering a word.

‘You don’t have his name? Anything?’

It sounded crazy to admit an exchange of names hadn’t seemed important at the time. Worse, it hadn’t even entered the equation.

‘I left while he was still sleeping,’ Mia revealed after an agonising silence, not adding her sense of sick shame, or the furtiveness with which she’d donned her clothes and crept from the room, the hotel, and summoned a cab.

Oh, Lord…how could she have discarded every moral she’d held dear all her life for one night with a man she’d never met before? Worse, would undoubtedly never see again?

It didn’t make sense any more now than it had then. And she couldn’t even claim her decision to go with him had been clouded by alcohol.

‘Are you considering a termination?’

Pain clenched deep inside, a tangible entity that momentarily clouded her eyes. She wanted this child. So much so, she couldn’t bear the thought of extinguishing its foetal life. It was a part of her, him. A vivid reminder of what they’d shared. ‘Do you think I haven’t agonised over that decision every hour of every day?’

‘And?’

‘I recognise the wisdom associated with termination, given the circumstances,’ she offered slowly as she met and held her sister’s gaze. ‘But I don’t think I can do it.’ She lifted a hand and smoothed a stray tendril of hair behind her ear, then attempted a faint smile that somehow didn’t quite come off.

As close as they were, she couldn’t bring herself to admit that what she’d initially damned as unbridled lust was something much deeper, more meaningful than just the slaking of physical need. It touched her heart, her soul, and captivated both on a level she hadn’t dreamed possible.

The child she carried represented part of that.

‘No verbal warning about bringing a child into the world and raising it as a single mother?’

‘I look at Matt and know my life would be as nothing without him,’ Alice assured quietly. ‘He’s my light, my laughter, my joy.’ She paused in reflective silence as she chose her words. ‘There are a number of working mothers in today’s world. I guess I have to say emotionally it would be easier to share things with a supportive partner,’ she added. ‘Someone who could cut me some slack every now and then. Share the responsibility. However, if you want reassurance single parenthood can work…I have no regrets, not one.’

‘I know it.’

Alice’s hands reached out and covered her own. ‘I’m sure whatever decision you make will be the right one.’

For me? Or the child?

It was something that had kept her awake nights, diminished her ability to study, and with morning sickness beginning to kick in she was forcibly reminded of the need to make a choice…soon.

‘If seeing the pregnancy through is an option, you could transfer to a university here and move in with me.’

Tears sprang, clouding her vision, and she blinked to dispense them.

Unconditional love. It was beyond price, and infinitely precious. ‘Thanks.’

‘But…?’

Alice knew her well. Too well. ‘If I take that option, the responsibility is my own.’

‘I kind of figured you’d say that.’ An absentminded sip from her cup brought a murmur of disgust. ‘I’ll make fresh tea.’

Mia checked her watch. ‘You don’t want to be late collecting Matt.’

Her sister groaned. ‘I need to take him on to the tennis club for coaching.’

‘We can pick up something to go, and drink it while we watch him.’

They did, and Matt’s enthusiastic welcome lightened Mia’s heart a little as she applauded his good shots with as much fervour as his mother.

Was this where she’d be in ten years? Cheering her son or daughter on from the sideline? Ensuring there was a host of extra-curricular activities to strengthen the mind and body, thus avoiding the pitfalls of vulnerable youth?

The conception of this tiny foetus growing inside her womb was a mistake. Yet its presence existed. If she carried it to term, it would never know its father. And what empathy could she hope to achieve as a mother with her child if she went with honesty and revealed the child’s existence was the result of a one-night stand with a stranger?

‘Did you see that backhand?’

She had, in an abstracted way. ‘Poetry in motion,’ she conceded, punching the air for Matt’s benefit.

At that moment her cellphone buzzed with an incoming SMS message, and she frowned as she read the text.

‘Problem?’ Alice queried, and Mia offered a rueful smile.

‘Nothing I can’t handle.’

Alice’s gaze held hers. ‘But not one you particularly want to?’

Mia rolled her eyes in an expressive gesture. ‘It’s—awkward.’

‘Explain awkward.’

‘It’s from Cris.’

‘One of the students you share lectures with?’

‘Yes. His family are Sydney based.’

‘That’s a problem, how?’

‘He’s nineteen, and he hasn’t told his family he’s gay.’

Alice’s expression didn’t change. ‘Okay, so why do I get the impression there’s more to it than what you’re telling me?’

Mia took her time in answering. ‘He’s a nice guy.’

‘And you feel protective of him?’

She summoned a mental image of the tall, lean young man who made her laugh, shared his sharp brain and the benefit of a photographic memory. ‘I value his friendship. We share two of the same lectures, and tend to hang out together.’

‘There’s a preconceived image on campus he’s your toy boy?’

‘No.’ She’d formed friendships with several fellow students and enjoyed their company. Yet she wasn’t a girlie girl who lived to follow the latest fashion trends, and she veered away from the thinly veiled sexual overtones prevalent in many of the male students.

Cris didn’t cause her to put up barriers on any level.

‘I’ve been invited to dinner on Thursday evening.’

‘I think you should go,’ Alice opined as Matt finished up with his coach and came off the court. ‘How difficult can it be?’

Maybe Alice was right. And besides, if she declined on some fabricated excuse the invitation would inevitably be extended to another evening.

SMS made for easy, quick communication, and within minutes it was set, with Cris alerting he’d collect her at six.

‘It’ll be fun,’ Alice assured as they walked to the car.

Mia wasn’t so sure. Twice the next day she considered cancelling. Wednesday she made the call, only to cut the connection.

Thursday was way too late, for only an emergency would do…and her patron saint refused to oblige her with one.

Consequently Mia dressed with sophistication in mind. Stiletto heels, the classic black dress, minimum jewellery with the exception of stunning drop ear studs. In the need to complete the image, she swept her hair into a smooth knot and secured it, then teased a few tendrils free to curl below each temple.

‘Don’t go,’ a tiny voice warned as she collected her evening purse and exited the guest room. Fool, she admonished. No one would eat her. Besides, she was capable of taking care of herself.

‘Looking good.’

Mia offered her nine-year-old nephew an affectionate smile. ‘You think?’

‘Wow, definitely,’ Matt declared with a male appreciation beyond his years.

‘Your ride has just pulled into the driveway,’ Alice forewarned a few seconds ahead of the sound of a car door closing.

Mia rolled her eyes expressively. ‘I wish this didn’t seem like such a big deal.’

Somehow ‘the family would like to meet you’ had seemed a light-hearted invitation at the time, but, now it was imminent, she wasn’t so sure.

‘Cris is a fellow student, a friend. I’m sure his family are very nice.’

The name Karedes numbered high among the city’s social echelon, and nice was debatable, given Cris’ version of his family.

Elder brother, Nikolos, who ruled the Karedes Corporation with a fist of steel; their widowed mother Sofia, whose influence was superseded only by Angelena the family matriarch, Nikolos and Cris’ widowed paternal grandmother.

The doorbell pealed, and Mia drew in a deep breath as she crossed into the hallway.

‘Hi.’ Her greeting held genuine warmth for the young man standing in the aperture.

He was attractive, with dark soul-searching eyes, a warm smile and generous heart; his tall frame and lean features held promise of the man he would become.

Introductions were made with ease, and minutes later Mia slid into the passenger seat of a Porsche.

‘Yours?’ she teased as he sent the car purring down the street.

‘It belongs to my brother.’

‘And he lets you borrow it?’

‘When I’m home.’ Cris effected a negligible shrug. ‘He has others.’

‘As in plural?’

‘Uh-huh.’

A shiver slid down her spine, for which she had no logical explanation. ‘Perhaps you should fill me in on the evening’s game plan.’

The Porsche growled to a halt at a traffic intersection, and he spared her a penetrating look. ‘You’re a friend I happen to regard with affection.’

‘Platonic friend,’ she conceded, and earned his swift smile.

‘That’s the description I’ve offered.’

‘Good.’

‘They’ll adore you. What’s not to like?’

Mia offered a slightly rueful smile. There was a part of her that wanted to tell him to turn the car round and take her home.

Get a grip. It was only one evening. A few hours. She’d exchange social pleasantries, decline the obligatory glass of wine and eat fine food.

Rose Bay held an eclectic mix of well-established homes, many with panoramic views of the harbour, and stately came to mind as Cris eased the Porsche to a halt outside a magnificent set of ornate wrought-iron gates guarding entrance to a sweeping driveway that led to a double-level plantation-style home in cream-plastered brick.

Wide bi-fold doors, timbered shutters, pillars and an elegant porte-cochère, set in beautiful landscaped grounds, the home…mansion, Mia amended…gave hint to serious family wealth. Very serious wealth.

Something Cris had neglected to mention.

As if to compound it, a Maybach sat parked beneath the porte-cochère. Its opulent lines were easily identifiable as the ultimate in the Mercedes group.

‘You’re impressed.’

It was a statement, uttered without emotion, and she allowed her gaze to settle on his features. ‘Am I meant to be?’

His expression became unreadable as he drew the Porsche to a halt in a designated parking bay. ‘It’s only stuff,’ he said quietly. ‘Material possessions gathered and passed from one generation to another as a visual attestation to entrepreneurial success.’

‘Which you hate?’

‘No. I merely prefer not to hang onto the familial coat-tails.’ He reached for his seat belt as Mia undid her own. ‘Okay, let’s go do this.’

‘Face the fray?’ she teased lightly, and was rewarded with a teasing smile.

‘You got it in one.’

Seconds later they gained the spacious bi-level marble-tiled external entrance, and two large panelled doors swung open to reveal an impeccably attired butler.

‘Good evening.’

A butler? Why should she be surprised?

Cris executed an introduction. ‘Costas has been with the family for years.’

‘The family are assembled in the lounge.’

When it came to strict formality, she’d take warm spontaneity any time. Didn’t families of Greek origin fall into the latter category?

Perhaps not.

Mia crossed the wide expanse of marble-tiled floor at Cris’ side, a few steps behind the butler, who paused on reaching what she presumed to be the lounge.

‘Ma’am, your son and his guest are here.’

It was a large, exquisitely furnished room in which two women were seated and a man stood in side profile beside a wall of French doors.

A man whose height and stance struck a familiar chord. One Mia instantly dismissed, despite the swift curl of apprehension twisting her stomach.

The younger of the two women rose to her feet and moved forward.

‘Mia. How nice to meet you at last.’

‘My mother, Sofia Karedes,’ Cris alluded with a smile. ‘Mia Fredrickson.’

‘Allow me to introduce my mother-in-law.’ Sofia indicated the older woman remaining seated. ‘Angelena Karedes.’

The matriarch, Mia concluded, meeting Angelena Karedes’ intense unwavering gaze. Nothing, she deduced, would pass unnoticed beneath those sharp dark eyes.

‘Mia.’ It was a polite acknowledgement, nothing more.

‘My elder son, Nikolos.’

He turned, and she felt as if her heart suddenly ceased beating.

No. The silent cry rose up from the depths of her soul. It couldn’t possibly be…

There had to be a mistake. How could Cris’ brother and the man with whom she’d spent a wild night of unbridled sex be one and the same?

Yet his identity was beyond doubt. His height and breadth of shoulder were achingly familiar. So too were his broad-sculpted facial features, the strong jaw, dark eyes, and a mouth that was to die for.

All it took was one look, and her bones began to melt.

Dear heaven…just thinking about what they’d shared almost brought her undone.

He knew. It was there in the depths of his eyes, the sensual curve of his mouth…an instant recognition that appeared fleetingly as he moved forward to greet her.

She wanted to obey an instinct to turn and run, and it was only courage that forced her to remain.

‘Mia.’

Her name on his lips sent the blood surging through her veins, heating her body to fever pitch, and it was all she could do to utter a brief acknowledgement.

Did he recognise her discomfort? Worse, did anyone else in the room sense it?

She wanted to rage against fate for being so unkind. It was bad enough accepting she’d discarded every moral she’d held dear for all of her adult years. Difficult to condone it had happened with a stranger. Discovering she was pregnant went right off the Richter scale.

Yet this…this was her worst nightmare.